Eddie Martin of Sallisaw, president and majority shareholder of six nursing homes and an assisted-living facility in the Tulsa area, said he believes the corporations which own the homes have not done anything wrong.

The nursing homes are each separately incorporated, and are based in Sallisaw.

In March a worker at the Silver Lake Facility, a 92-bed nursing home in Bartlesville, was arrested and charged March 26 with two felony counts of abuse by caretaker.

The Silver Lake Care Center has been shut down, and Martin said the decision to close that facility was made in September for financial reasons. Residents and their families were notified March 4 that the facility as closing, and they had 90 days, until June 5 to make other living arrangements. All those in the nursing home, about 55, have already moved, Martin said Thursday.

Martin said allegations that the nursing homes are not being operated correctly are exaggerated or unfounded, and all official complaints or citations against the nursing homes and assisted-living center are taken care of immediately.

Caretaker charged

Martin said Jason Lynn Pearl, 31, worked at the Silver Lake Care Center. Pearl is being held on a $100,000 bond in Washington County Jail on the two felony abuse by caretaker charges. He is accused of abusing two residents of the care center.

Martin said, “We (nursing home staff) reported the alleged abuse to the police.”

Martin explained that two workers in the Silver Lake Care Center found a small camcorder one night, took the camcorder home and watched the recordings, which were of resident abuse. Unfortunately, the staff members erased the recordings, but Martin said the alleged abuse was reported the next day, which led to Pearl’s arrest. Martin said the small recorder did not belong to the nursing home, but he suspects it may have been owned by Pearl. The recorder was turned over to police and Martin said he believes the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was asked to restore the erased recording.

Pearl’s preliminary hearing on the charges is set for May 21 in Washington County District Court.

It is unfortunate the staff members erased the recording, Martin said Thursday, but he emphasized all the nursing homes have 32 cameras each, and the cameras can all be monitored from Martin’s home office in Sallisaw.

Martin said cameras are not put in residents’ rooms for privacy reasons.

business Allegations

Two businesses which worked with the Silver Lake Care Center say the center still owes them money, and one has filed a lawsuit against Martin in Washington County District Court.

Martin said one of those businesses, Healthcare Services Group of Tulsa, provided dietary needs for the Silver Lake Care Center, and is owed about $150,000, Martin confirmed Thursday.

NurseState LLC of St. Paul, Kan., owned by Dinah Giefer, is owed about $90,000 and has filed a civil lawsuit against the care center.

In a fax to Your TIMES Giefer alleges Martin was “skimming money off the top.” She said there was more to the story than was published in the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise or Tulsa World.

Martin said Thursday, “There was nothing to skim off the top. There wasn’t any money.”

Martin said Bartlesville, a community rich from gas and oil royalties, has more nursing homes than needed, and that the Silver Lake Care Center, opened in 1990, was not making money. That prompted the decision to close the center in September, he added.

“We have been in litigation with this lady since we shut down,” Martin said.

About Healthcare Services Group, Martin said that business was in charge of supply and preparing meals for the center’s residents.

“We let them go,” Martin said Thursday, because he was not satisfied with their performance.

Martin said he did not know if either business has been paid. Payment is left up to his bookkeeper, he said.

Other Allegations

Other allegations made in the media include poor staffing, management, and numerous citations.

Your TIMES’ call to the Oklahoma Department of Health, which oversees nursing homes, was not returned as of press time Friday.

Martin said the other nursing homes under his direction “are doing fine.”

They are :

—Pleasant Springs in Colcord, the assisted-living center

—Cimarron Pointe Care Center in Mannford

—Coweta Manor Nursing Home in Coweta

—Glenpool Health Care Center in Glenpool

—Rolling Hills Care Center in Catoosa

—Sequoyah Pointe Living Center in Owasso

—Shawn Manor Nursing Home in Ponca City

Martin said all nursing homes — about 500 in the state — are inspected regularly by teams from the state health department, and are often cited for numerous reasons.

“When inspected, we are given 30 days to fix what’s wrong, and then they come back,” Martin said, adding, “Ideally, the problem should be taken care of immediately.’

Martin said a report that Medicaid and Medicare have pulled support from his nursing homes due to citations is overblown. The reasons for the citations have been fixed, and Medicaid and Medicare do support his nursing homes through payment for patients.

Martin said the state requires that the nursing homes be staffed correctly.

“We check every day,” to determine if anyone has quit or not come to work, Martin said. “The ratio of employees per patient is state regulated.”

Martin said that with all the staff needed to operate a filled-to-capacity home, from registered nurses to janitors, the ratio is about one employee per patient. But keeping that ratio is hard.

“We have trouble keeping good staff members,” Martin conceded.

Martin said the number of citations issued against his homes are fixed immediately, and are not an unusual number.

The Silver Lake Care Center, mortgaged through Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will most likely file bankruptcy and the facility will go back to HUD. In those cases, HUD most usually offers the facility for sale, Martin said.

Martin, who has a degree in social work from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, said he has been in the nursing home business most of his life, and his family is also involved with his nursing homes.

He said he has been operating nursing homes for about 12 years, and has been in the ownership end of the business between four and five years.

On the Oklahoma Department of Health Web site, the agency grades some, but not all, nursing homes on a five-star basis, with five being the best. Most of Martin’s nursing homes have been given a one-star rating, but the living center has a three-star rating.

The Web site notes that ratings are based on information received from the nursing homes, and some information was not sent to the department, which lowered the rating.

Martin seeks ownership

Eddie Martin of Sallisaw, majority shareholder in six nursing homes and one assisted-living center, is also a defendant in a $2 million lawsuit filed by J. Max Jiles formerly of Sallisaw in May 2008.

The suit, filed in federal court, alleges non-payment for the sale of a share in six nursing homes. Martin has filed a counter claim alleging Jiles committed fraud.

According to court documents, Martin admits he executed the promissory note, but he alleges he was defrauded into signing the promissory note and agreement. Martin also denies that he defaulted under the terms of the note.

Martin alleges the contract between Jiles and Martin is void as Jiles did not fulfill all conditions precedent to consummation of the transaction, including transfer of ownership and licensing with HUD.

In an interview Thursday, Martin said three of the seven nursing homes have been transferred under HUD’s “Transfer of Physical Assets” requirement. This will give Martin the ability to take profit out of the corporation to pay on the loans, he said. Without HUD’s recognition of Martin’s ownership interest, Martin said he is liable for expenses and losses of the nursing home, but cannot take any money out to pay on the loan.